The Quest for Knowledge/Disobedience

There are essentially two different epic plots in Paradise Lost (that clearly overlap):
Epic #1: War in Heaven, Satan's descent to Hell, Satan's mission to work against evil (similar to the Homeric and Virgilian epics)
Epic #2: Creation of Paradise, Adam & Eve's fall from grace, Adam and Eve's mission for redemption (different kind of epic)

At the heart of both epics is the issue of obedience. We have already discussed Satan's disobedience, so I will focus solely on Adam and Eve's act of disobedience. Book IX illustrates how the quest for knowledge leads to disobedience and thus the tragedy of the epic. In Book VII Milton uses a simile to compare the necessity of knowledge to food. Raphael says to Adam, "But knowledge is as food, and needs no less" (126). Raphael states that the individual does not need a surplus of knowledge; he only needs enough to survive. In Book VIII Raphael warns Adam not to seek knowledge, "Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid,/ Leave them to God above, him serve and fear" (167-168). Raphael tells Adam to live his life as simply as possible and warns him to not request answers from the authority that has created the rules for living well.

I wonder what Milton is really trying to say here. His use of repetition with regard to the knowledge/food metaphor would indicate that he believed humans should be content with what they know and avoid seeking further information. However, Milton's body of work would indicate that he strongly believed in the quest for knowledge. As a political writer and poet, Milton was constantly working to gain knowledge and make sense of important contemporary issues.